It may be the end of Major League Gaming (MLG) as we know it. MLG, the host of popular e-gaming tournaments for “Halo,” “Call Of Duty” is set for acquisition by Activision Blizzard Inc.
New York-based Major League Gaming, a professional e-sports organisation is all set to be acquired. The Board of Directors of Major League Gaming has reportedly approved an Asset Purchase Agreement with gaming company Activision Blizzard Inc. This gives Activision a majority of MLG’s assets for $46 million.
Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO of MLG will be replaced with Greg Chisholm who served as CFO at MLG. It was a “corporate action taken without a stockholders’ meeting by less than unanimous written consent of our stockholders,” allowed under Section 228(e) of the Delaware General Corporation Law.
The liquidation of assets is believed to have been done to pay off MLG’s debts. It has filed for multiple debt financing rounds in 2015, raising over $6 million. The acquisition was approved by consent of shareholder consortium including Treehouse Capital LLC, Ritchie Opportunistic Trading Ltd., Oak Investment Partners, and Legion Capital Investments LLC—managed by Mike Sepso, co-founder of MLG and current senior vice president of e-sports at Activision Blizzard.
It is unclear if MLG will continue to operate under its own banner. However, it is expected for Activision to push for its own games at MLG.
MLG has hosted major tournaments for games such as “Super Smash Bros Melee,” “Halo,” “Tekken” and “Call Of Duty.” It announced building an arena in China by 2017, following the 1300 square meter arena at Columbus, Ohio. MLG’s global streaming platform MLG.tv helped bring e-sports to mainstream media.
Major League Gaming’s position as a leader in e-sports has dealt with several blows in recent past. In 2015, it lost hosting rights for “Call of Duty” World League’s Pro Division to Activision-backed ESL.
The acquisition solidifies Activision Blizzard’s market position. It was fifth largest gaming company in the world in FY2014 and the move is expected to help build its position in e-sports division. The list of companies it recently acquired includes King, creator of the popular “Candy Crush Saga” for $5.9 billion.